Investing.com – France equities were higher at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Utilities, Basic Materials and Oil & Gas sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Paris, the CAC 40 added 0.45% to hit a new 52-week high, while the SBF 120 index added 0.40%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the CAC 40 were TechnipFMC PLC (PA:FTI), which rose 4.58% or 1.33 points to trade at 30.39 at the close. Engie SA (PA:ENGIE) added 2.95% or 0.38 points to end at 13.10 and Vivendi SA (PA:VIV) was up 1.52% or 0.27 points to 17.68 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Accor SA (PA:ACCP), which lost 0.91% or 0.35 points to trade at 38.80 in late trade. Societe Generale (PA:SOGN) declined 0.79% or 0.38 points to end at 47.20 and Essilor International Compagnie Generale d’Optique SA (PA:ESSI) shed 0.75% or 0.85 points to 113.00.
The top performers on the SBF 120 were Neopost (PA:NPOS) which rose 12.20% to 34.22, Vallourec (PA:VLLP) which was up 5.01% to settle at 5.954 and TechnipFMC PLC (PA:FTI) which gained 4.58% to close at 30.39.
The worst performers were Soitec SA (PA:SOIT) which was down 4.79% to 39.950 in late trade, Eutelsat Communications (PA:ETL) which lost 2.29% to settle at 19.83 and Air France KLM SA (PA:AIRF) which was down 1.96% to 7.059 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 342 to 268 and 101 ended unchanged on the Paris Stock Exchange.
The CAC 40 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of CAC 40 options, was up 0.82% to 15.91.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for April delivery was down 0.37% or 4.65 to $1250.95 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in May rose 2.05% or 0.99 to hit $49.36 a barrel, while the June Brent oil contract rose 1.87% or 0.96 to trade at $52.38 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 0.55% to 1.0754, while EUR/GBP fell 0.16% to 0.8669.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.39% at 99.92.